JANUARY 22, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
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Democracy prevails
Our democracy has prevailed. Jo- the citizens of the United States that
seph R. Biden was inagurated as the he has the best interests of America
46th president of the United States and its people at heart.
The Biden administration will
without incident on January 20.
The feared protests did not ma- deal with the on-going COVID-19
pandemic, the messy
terialize and mar America’s
rollout of the coronavi-
transfer of power; it was
rus vaccines, an econo-
peaceful.
my reeling from months
The new president’s
inaguaral address was short
editorial of business closures and
inequality. The pres-
but pointed: paraphrasing
ident has a daunting
Abraham Lincoln’s re-
burden, which can be
marks of 1863, he said “My
lightened if Congress
whole soul is in this.” He
called for unity and said that not ev- works to be part of solutions.
Biden’s call for national unity can
ery disagreement is a call for fi ery
battle.Regardless of how Americans seem like platitude but it is what is
voted in the election, Joseph Biden needed. He said, “We must end this
uncivil war that pits red against blue,
is president of the country now.
The nation has turned the page rural versus urban, conservative ver-
to a new administration. It faces sus liberal. We can do this if we open
huge challenges few new presidents our souls instead of hardening our
have had to confront. There will be, hearts.”
He added that he will fi ght for
no doubt, immediate sniping at the
new president for his policies and all Americans including those who
decisions. President Biden deserves did not vote for him. There is always
the opportunity to demonstrate to a percentage of people who don’t
accept a president as ‘their’ leader—
that’s part of democracy. Yet every
new president should be given the
benefi t of the doubt.
Americans have the ultimate
power in the nation. They have made
their voices heard when they do not
support policies and decisions made
by a president. If Biden overreaches
and tries to push through initiatives
that people believe are wrong, they
will speak out.
The new president is a decent
man whose experience and back-
ground will serve him well. He has
enjoyed triumphs and and endured
tragedies; his fi nest trait is that of
empathy; he can relate to his fellow
Americans in a way few presidents
have.
Joseph Biden’s’‘whole soul is in
this.’ For the challenges America
faces that may just be enough to be
what we need.
—LAZ
Now, the left owns it all
By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
on Sunday, rolling out Humvees,
That mob that split off from the concertina wire and thousands of
Donald Trump rally of Jan. 6 to in- National Guard troops clad in bat-
vade the Capitol has proven a god- tlefi eld helmets to defend against
send to the left.
a possible onslaught of rioters
The death of a Capitol cop has whipped up by the baseless claims
enabled the left—which spent the of the American president.
summer after George Floyd’s death
“The assault never came. De-
trashing “racist cops” and
spite warnings from the
shouting, “Defund the
FBI and boasts from
Police!”—to posture as
armed, far-right ex-
fi ghting allies of the men
tremist groups, security
other
in blue.
forces in every instance
voices
Liberals who implored
outnumbered scattered
us to understand the griev-
groups of demonstra-
ances of the rioters, looters
tors, and there were no
and arsonists last summer
reports of violence.”
have become sudden converts to the
In anticipation of this week’s in-
church of law and order.
auguration, 25,000 National Guard
Elites who had condoned the had been deployed in and around
smashing of statues and monuments D.C. to defend against right-wing
to Columbus, Washington, Jefferson mobs or would-be assassins. Three
and Jackson as a needed cleansing or four times as many troops are
of our hateful history have declared here in D.C. as there are U.S. troops
themselves sickened that Trumpists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria com-
would desecrate the temple of de- bined.
mocracy.
Now, an ounce of prevention is
Had it been antifa or BLM that worth a pound of cure. And better
carried out the invasion, not one too much security than not enough.
statue would have been left standing But even given the Jan. 6 outrage,
in Statuary Hall, and we would have to arm our capital city as though
been instructed that it was slaves Stonewall Jackson’s Confederates
who had, after all, built the Capitol were going to march up Manassas
building.
Road and capture Abe Lincoln after
The media is airing endless foot- the Union defeat at Bull Run seems
age of the mob marauding inside a bit excessive.
the Capitol. Purpose: to plant indel-
Wednesday, Jan. 20 was a histor-
ibly in the public mind the fi ction ic day. Trump wsas gone from the
that this was the deliberate work of White House and national pow-
Donald Trump and his people, and er and responsibility passed to the
our elites are the real adversaries of Democratic Party.
violent protest.
Democrats took over the House,
Indeed, to protect the nation Senate and White House. Virtual-
from rightist uprisings in state cap- ly all major media will be in their
itals, last weekend saw the wide- camp. They will be welcomed in a
spread deployment of the National city that has never elected a Repub-
Guard.
lican mayor and has no Republicans
Sunday was to be the day the on the city council, a city that vot-
murderous violence of the right ed for Joe Biden 18-1 over Trump.
would manifest itself.
The 30,000 registered Republicans
What happened? As The Wash- in D.C. are outnumbered 12-1 by
Democrats.
ington Post reported Monday:
The government bureaucracies
“Authorities in cities from coast
to coast mobilized a military-style here are as deeply Democratic as the
defense of state capitol complexes “deep state” that bedeviled Trump
for four years. Biden’s Cabinet is the
most racially and ethnically diverse
ever; the majority of its members are
women and people of color. Obama
administration holdovers dominate
the national security team.
Most of America’s major cities
—New York, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore, Detroit, St.
Louis—are run by liberal Demo-
crats, and, coincidentally, all experi-
enced surges in shootings and kill-
ings in 2020.
While the fi gures on the crimi-
nal perpetrators are rarely reported,
it appears that not a great many of
the violent and lethal crimes were
the work of rogue cops or white su-
premacists in MAGA hats.
Other problems Trump failed to
solve—the pandemic now killing
3,000 to 4,000 Americans a day, the
failure to get vaccines into the arms
of millions of more Americans—are
now Joe’s problems.
Calling Trump names will no
longer cut it.
Now, Democrats must decide
whether to proceed with the im-
peachment trial of Trump for incit-
ing a riot that began on the Capitol
steps as he was speaking a mile away,
a riot planned long before the rally
on the Mall.
Now, Democrats can choose
whether they will forego extract-
ing their pound of fl esh as the fi rst
order of business in the Senate and
let Nancy Pelosi sit a while on her
impeachment resolution.
Now, Democrats have it all. If
they wish, they can abolish the fi l-
ibuster, pack the Supreme Court,
make D.C. and Puerto Rico states,
forgive all student debt, and vote for
slavery reparations.
One reads that a caravan of thou-
sands is forming up in Honduras
to pass through Guatemala in the
hope of reaching and crossing the
U.S. border when Biden becomes
president.
That, too, is Joe’s party’s problem
now.
houses going above and
beyond market value in a
highly competitive market.
letters
To the Editor:
The second, noting Ju-
The mental whiplash in
ran’s assignment to a sub-
the January 15 issue of the
group focused on reducing
Keizertimes demands not
barriers to home own-
only a “change in mind-
ership in Keizer, quotes
set,” but “focused” scrutiny of our city Councilor Juran: “This is something
leadership.
I’ve noticed with employees. Most of
Compare the articles, Buckle Up: the entry level carpenters I have hired
Homes in Keizer white hot, extremely make just above minimum wage and
limited with new City Councilor Kyle have no expectation of ever owning
Juran’s analysis of housing disparity a house. It’s very achievable, they just
in, Groundwork laid for council’s future need to change their mindset, focus
efforts.
and make it a goal.”
The fi rst highlights the less than 10
Setting aside the inherent conde-
homes available for sale in Keizer, with scension in that quote, two facts: 1) a
local real estate ad from Jan. 7, 2021: 1
bedroom, 1 bath home, $219,000. 2)
Oregon minimum wage as of January
7: $12.75/hr. Does Mr. Juran hire at
even $15/hour? That’s $31,200/year.
It takes more than a mindset and focus
to make even a one bedroom house
affordable.
Perhaps the Mayor should appoint
Juran’s employees to the subgroup
addressing housing disparity. It’s obvi-
ous they have a fi rmer grasp of reality.
Juran could also set a very achievable
goal of apologizing to his employees
for his own mindset and commit to
changing it. It’s possible, with focus.
Carolyn Homan
Keizer
Focus and
mindset on housing
(Creators Syndicate)
Power lines down
By JIM PARR
Last week’s wind storm left a
few Keizer neighborhoods without
power for the better part of two
nights and days, long enough to get
one’s attention.
After a few days and nights with-
out power, you begin to adapt.
Projects and chores that require
light have to get done before sunset.
You have to fi gure out ways to get
all of your de-
vices
charged
so that you can
c o m mu n i c a t e.
At night you
fi nd
yourself
automatical-
ly reaching for
the light switch
when
enter-
ing a dark room
even
though
you know that
the power is out.
What and how
will you eat? Don’t open the fridge,
preserve the cold, and so on.
Living without power can be
good training. How is your battery
supply? Do you have a way of pre-
serving your cold storage food in
case of a prolonged power outage?
Is your battery-operated radio near-
by? Sitting quietly in the dark you
begin to realize what a luxury reli-
able electric power really is.
And as you sit out the quiet and
dark, you might begin to wonder
what was it like for early man who
at night huddled in a cave perhaps
with a small fi re dying out and un-
able to sleep as he kept a nervous
eye and ear out for what ever ene-
my or predator might attack in the
dark. Sunrise and light could not
come soon enough.
You might also wonder just how
our electric power supply and dis-
tribution system was constructed?
What and who brought electricity
to developing communities such as
Keizer? Have you heard of the Rural
Electrifi cation Act (REA)? Prior to
the mid 1930s, 90% of rural Amer-
ica, especially in the west, lived in
darkness after sunset. The REA was
passed by Congress in May 1936 as
a way to improve life in much of
America by bringing electricity to
rural farms and communities.
In 1949 the Act was authorized
to bring telephone service to these
same rural areas. The program oper-
ated by providing low cost loans to
cooperatives and utility districts that
were formed and tasked with bring-
ing power and telephone service to
their areas of geographic responsi-
bility. The REA was terminated in
1994 and it’s mission transferred to
the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
It was and is one of our country’s
great achievements.
Our current sys-
tem is an amazingly
complex infrastruc-
ture and service that
exists because of the
efforts of talented
inventors, innova-
tors, engineers, sci-
entists, and an ex-
pert work force that
maintains the sys-
tem. A work force
that will, during
outages, work day
and night in dangerous conditions
to get the power restored. Perhaps
we too often take the existence
of constant and reliable power for
granted. It sure is exciting when
the power is suddenly back on. For
a short while it seems like a luxury.
Despite the work of the REA
and its successor, the RUS, there
are still areas in the country that do
not have electricity. For example,
remote parts of the Navajo Indian
Reservation are still without elec-
tricity and running water and, with-
out running water there are no sew-
er systems. Perhaps these areas are
so far beyond the “end of the line”
that the economics of extension
just don’t pencil out. Or perhaps
the commitment to make it happen
just isn’t there. Or perhaps it is by
choice. Not everyone wants to live
on the grid. Any or all of these pos-
sibilities might exist but this doesn’t
mean it can’t be done.
The REA played a major role in
the modernization of America. It
bettered the lives of rural people
throughout the country and was
made possible by Congress and sup-
portive presidents. It made possible
the potential that a developed West
could and would eventually bring
to the country.
( Jim Parr lives in Keizer.)
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